


Making Memories

by RonaldRx



Series: ZsaszMask Week 2020 [1]
Category: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
Genre: Gen, Halloween, How Do I Tag, Knives, M/M, Prompt Fic, Pumpkins, Slice of Life, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:02:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27192121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RonaldRx/pseuds/RonaldRx
Summary: Sionis and Zsasz carve pumpkins and talk about bits of their lives before they met.
Relationships: Roman Sionis/Victor Zsasz
Series: ZsaszMask Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985006
Comments: 10
Kudos: 15





	Making Memories

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> This is the first fic I've written AND posted in over four years. It's also my first one in English. If there are any striking mistakes that I should tend to, please let me know, thank you! Also, if there are any tags I should add, let me know as well.  
> Other than that, this morphed into a character/relationship study instead of the short little thing I expected it to be.  
> Also, I was planning on drawing a piece for each prompt, so if I end up doing that, I will post them at the end of each fic and add links. But no promises!   
> Either way, I hope you enjoy it!  
> \- Ronny

ZsaszMask Week Day I: Pumpkin

"Ugh, ewww! Why exactly are we doing this fucking shit again?!", Roman exclaimed, wrinkling his nose, as he watched Zsasz scoop out the pumpkin's flesh. 

The pumpkin in question was placed on a tray which in turn was placed on a plastic sheet that covered the entire lower half of the table, as to not get any pumpkin bits and pieces on it and supposedly ruining it. The insides of the pumpkin were put into a big bowl for any kind of waste that came out of this session. 

"For the promised pumpkin carving!", Victor shot back, grinning and showing off his two golden teeth. 

He scooped out the rest of the flesh and placed it into the bowl, leaning back and stretching his back after, hearing and feeling his joints pop. Being hunched over for about fifteen minutes straight should be easy with how often he did it for the job anyway but he wasn't exactly the youngest anymore either. 

"Fuck, if I knew how disgusting this shit was gonna be I might not have agreed to it. Let alone promised for it to happen," Sionis grumbled. 

Roman didn't dare mention that he only agreed to this because Zsasz was looking at him with those big puppy dog eyes that he couldn't have said 'No' to, no matter what information he would have been given beforehand. 

"I told you, you didn't have to do anything. You could just continue to watch me carve out a design," Zsasz replied, smiling at him and giving him a possible out of this. 

Sionis acted as if he was truly thinking about it, but the rubber gloves and apron he bought and wore for this occasion only, gave away that he was determined to do this. He may be extremely disgusted and didn't see the appeal of this but it made Victor happy. And while with anyone else it didn't matter what made them happy and what didn't, Roman would only care about himself then, he had to admit that Zsasz was just that bit more special and warranted at least something of a reward for all his efforts and loyalty in the past sixteen-plus years. 

"No, I'll keep my promise. I'll help and do some of the carving," he replied, "Besides. I'm already wearing these ugly fucking things, so I might as well make use of them."

Victor chuckled and shook his head a little when he went over to the nearest bathroom to wash his hands and forearms to rid himself of any excess juices and flesh of the pumpkin, as to not disgust Sionis even more than he already was. 

Roman was cute. In a weird way. Zsasz knew he absolutely didn't want to do this but he did it anyway just because Victor was more important to him than he'd ever admit out loud. It made his heart clench in that funny way only Roman managed to cause. 

When he came back, he picked up the prepared pen to draw the design on the pumpkin's outside first before carving it out. He had a very clear picture of what he wanted to do since Roman said they'd do it and he was determined for it to look as good as possible even though neither of them was much of an artist. 

"I'm drawing on the design first, then we can carve. So, you can't really do anything just now but watch and wait," Zsasz said, as if he was reading Roman's mind because he was about to open his mouth and ask exactly about that just now. 

Roman sat down on the chair he put next to the one Zsasz sat on now to be able to draw on the pumpkin more easily. He sighed and crossed his arms, feeling a little impatient and out of sorts. Sionis just wasn't used to such things, and he especially didn't like to wait and do nothing. It wasn't in his nature. 

After a few minutes of watching Zsasz drawing his design, tongue pinned between his teeth, the tip poking out a little in concentration, he sighed again and asked, "What is the appeal of this anyway?" 

Victor looked up at him and smiled again. It was unusual for Roman to actually sound a little interested under all of his pretense to be only disgusted and forced to do this. If Zsasz didn't know him as well as he did, he probably wouldn't have picked up on that little note of real interest either. 

"It's just fun. People do this for fun, really. Especially families because it's a good way to spend time with your child and do something enjoyable in the fall, I guess. I mean, it has been a Halloween tradition since forever and I always enjoyed it. I can use my knives and do whatever with the pumpkin, like it was a human being, you know? Just without all the screaming and blood, which I like, but this is quite relaxing, too."

"Huh... Did you... Was that something your parents did with you?", Roman inquired and looked at Zsasz with such an open interest in his eyes that it took him aback for a moment. 

Sionis didn't care much about anyone else's lives, only enough to know what to use against people when it came down to it. In all their time together, Roman rarely asked Victor questions about his life before all of this. Zsasz was more than fine with that. It often felt like that life wasn't his anyway, and he didn't like talking about it or himself in general very much either. 

"Yeah. As soon as I was old enough to be helping with it, they let me and it was always just... a lot of fun, I guess. I remember laughing a lot with them when we were carving pumpkins. And it was just a good excuse to have knives in my hands and work with them, without having my parents worry about why I liked that. Not that I truly realised that until I got older, which was also around the time they died," he explained and ducked his head a little towards the end, uncertain as to how Roman would react to any of the information he just got. 

It felt weird to talk about this and open up to Roman about something he's not talked about to anyone, really. He didn't understand how people usually did that. On top of that, he felt weak for it. Admitting that he had fun with his parents when he was little, that they died, showing Roman through his body language alone that it somehow still affected him, even though he often swore to himself that it's only caused him to find his path far more quickly and that they at least couldn't be a possible weakness. 

"My parents have never done any of that with me," Roman replied instead, seemingly disregarding everything Victor just told him and making it about himself again, "I only saw that crap being done on TV and thought it's fake, you know? I always thought those fuckers just tried to show that marriage and families are great things, the usual propaganda, and that it wasn't actually real. Just looking at my parents and how they treated each other and myself, it seemed so far away to me that this shit could be real at all."

Roman clenched his hands into tight fists towards the end of his little confession, his face contorted into his usual angry and hurt facade before he would truly explode under normal circumstances. 

Though, that day nothing was under 'normal circumstances', for them anyway, and therefore Roman forced himself to take a deep breath, after Zsasz got up to stand behind him and put his hands on his shoulders, gently but firmly, digging into the tense muscles there. 

"You know, sometimes I almost wish to have had a childhood like others seemed to have. With loving parents, fun, stupid traditions like carving fucking pumpkins for Halloween and such things. But at the same time, I'm doubtful I'd be who I am and where I am today, if that had happened. Don't you think so, Victor?", Roman went on. 

When he directed his question towards Zsasz, he looked up to be able to see him, and laid one of his hands on Victor's own, still massaging his shoulders. It was an unusually tender gesture for either of them. Victor often felt like he and Roman were treading towards a territory where they weren't employer and employee or friends, really. But something more. Something deeper. Something neither of them really understood or could even really comprehend. Both of them a little too fucked up in their own way to be able to fully go there and be like everybody else in the world. 

Yet, moments like these reminded Victor that there definitely was something there that they were yet to explore any further than just a tender touch or a deeper look into each other's life before they met. 

Even so, their friendship was already incredibly special in many ways and he often wondered if maybe they didn't need to take that extra step at all and that the bond they had was already what it would and could possibly ever be. That even if they ended up in bed together one of these days or simply just kissed or did any of the other things that couples would usually do, it wouldn't change anything about their relationship as it was in that moment. 

Instead of letting these thoughts take more hold of him, he replied to Roman's question. 

"Yeah maybe, boss. Although I think that even if you had had a... more normal childhood, you wouldn't be much different today. But who knows that shit for sure, anyway?" 

Roman squeezed the hand he laid upon his own and nodded, smiling slightly. 

"I suppose you're right, Zsasz," he sighed, let go of the other man's hand and, with a hand gesture as natural to him as his explosive moods he told Victor to sit back down and continue working on the pumpkin's design. 

When he was done with drawing it onto the pumpkin as detailed as he would need it, he put down the pen and got up from the chair. Roman followed suit, and looked at his partner expectantly. 

"Well, now we take the knives and start carving. It can be a little hard. Like when you cut someone's finger off or some shit like that and don't use the correct knife or the perfect position and stuff," Zsasz explained. 

Sionis grinned at the example Victor chose to illustrate his point and picked up one of the knives. It shouldn't be too hard to carve a pumpkin but he knows for a fact that these things are rather sturdy for sure. 

Zsasz instructed him a little more on the image he's had in his mind and how to achieve that. That meant carving out some parts completely, some only on the surface and so forth, to create a clear picture. 

They got to work and within an hour and a half, that they spent laughing and talking a little more, and also some disgusted noises and expressions from Roman only, they were finally done. 

Sionis realised halfway through what exactly the design represented and he got rather excited about it. It was his Black Mask. It was not as detailed as the actual thing of course but it came close enough with its unique look which made it unmistakable to them and certainly would have other people not mistake it as just a boring skull that you would usually find on Halloween designs. 

When they were fully done with it, even putting a candle into the pumpkin's empty space and putting it on display downstairs at the club's entrance and having someone come in to clean up the mess on the table, Zsasz kept smiling to himself. 

He was undeniably happy about this afternoon. It felt so special to him. He knew for a fact that Roman wouldn't have done this for - or with - anyone else. On top of that, it was Roman's first time carving a pumpkin for Halloween and Zsasz knew he enjoyed it despite his protests and evident disgust. The design he chose to carve into the pumpkin certainly didn't play a small part in Roman's enjoyment. He even kissed Zsasz on the cheek when they were done and told him that he thought it would look great beside the club's entrance.

It made his heart clench in that funny way over and over again, when he thought about how special this was and how this was something just between the two of them, now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Kudos and Comments are very much appreciated!
> 
> Also come find and talk to me on Twitter: @RonaldRx_   
> and Tumblr: RonaldRx


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